The Blade that Falls
by wagonwheel67
Summary: Ichigo has passed on from unknown causes and has found himself in the Soul Society. Not knowing who he is or why he's come here, he embarks on a journey to find answers and regain his memories. Rated M to be on the safe side.
1. Prologue

**The Blade that Falls**

**(Prologue)**

"D_on't die, Ichigo, don't die! You can't die!"_

_Not sure what was happening, he opened his eyes to the blinding light but not feeling the strength to keep them open, shut them once more._

"_Keep the gauze on him! I need more gauze! Where's the nurse?" _

_Ahh, that sounds like Uryu's father, Ryuken. I wonder why is he here? Wasn't I playing soccer earlier?_

"_Wahhhh, Ichigo….no please don't go…"_

_Orihime…what's happening? I can't see anything…_

"_Ichigo, you're gonna make it, just hang on!"_

_Uryu…for once he isn't nagging at me. Haha, what on earth just happened to me?_

"_Ichigo, you better live!"_

_Chad…oh dear lord, something's wrong isn't there…I can't…move…_

Ichigo was rushed into the room where the light was even more blinding. Feeling his bindings being undone, he felt himself being lifted up onto an operating table. He opened his eyes and felt singing pain going through his body.

"_Everyone back off, its time for us to do the procedure!"_

Hearing sobs and yelling, he couldn't even comprehend his situation and started drifting off, his strength…fading…


	2. Chapter 1

**Hey all, I haven't properly introduced myself. I'm Train, and I'm brand new to this website as well as writing these stories, so go easy on me, haha. If you see any names you don't recognize from the series, they are most likely gonna be random characters I gave names to. I don't see the point in doing this since there is no profit involved, but if this site is anything like YouTube, then I guess I have no choice;**

**Diclaimer: I do not own Bleach, all rights go to Tite Kubo and all his greatness.**

**Chapter 1: The Awakening**

"_Hey, is he dead?"_

"_naw, I don't think so, looks it though."_

"_He got anything on him, lets see if he's got any cash on 'im, Hotaka!"_

_What's going on?_

"_I feel nothing, Juro, why don't you look too you lazy idiot?!"_

At that moment, Ichigo came to, and through his adjusted eyesight, woke up to two scraggly middle-aged men rifling through his pockets.

"Wh-Wha? HEY! Get outta here!"

The two men jumped about 5 feet in the air and scrambled away whimpering like beaten dogs. "Freakin thieves…" Ichigo mumbled to himself. As he got up he looked around and realized he wasn't in his hometown of Karakura Town anymore, rather on a dusty old road in the middle of an Edo-Period town street. Old shacks of houses streamed on for what seemed like an eternity in either direction. A few crows cawed nervously in the background.

"What the…where am I?" Ichigo said to himself

Taking a few steps forward, he became sure that this wasn't some awful dream and his heart rate began to increase steadily. _Did I…travel through time?_ He shook his head to get that thought out of his mind. Deciding that just standing there wasn't going to get him any answers, he decided to go ask for help.

"Hey! Can someone help me? I think I'm lost, where am I?"

His shouting drew the attention of some nervous-looking people, peering from their windows and open doors. They were all wearing Old-fashioned Yukatas and robes, some even barely were wearing anything.

He began to search for his cell phone, but he couldn't find it. Instead, when he looked down he jumped in surprise to see that he was wearing robes as well!

"Ok, this is freaking me out…"

His heart began to beat faster and beads of sweat dotted his forehead. As he began to approach one middle-aged woman, she began to back away slowly and eventually disappeared into her house and shut the door. Other people around him started following suit.

"H-hey, will someone tell me where the heck I am? Hey!" Suddenly he heard a high-pitched shrill behind him,

"You are in the Soul Society you dunce, now will you stop your incessant shouting?"

Startled, Ichigo turned his head behind him to see a young girl around his age, maybe a year or two younger than him giving him a sincere look of annoyance and discomfort. A Light-brown haired girl wearing it long, below her elbows, also with bangs running down her forehead, but not enough to cover her big lavender eyes that radiated off her face like two beacons. Not bad to look at either, Approximately C-cup breasts?

_Pretty big for her age…_ Ichigo thought to himself.

Noticing where he was looking, she felt the slight twinge of the mix of discomfort and bashfulness and immediately covered herself, "H-Hey, where do you think you're looking? Up here you perv!"

Shaking himself back into reality he pointed to himself, "I'm no perv, you got it all wrong!" replying indignantly and embarrassed. Getting a better look at her, he noticed that she was wearing a grey and green yukata that boasted a drab floral design. He immediately deduced that she was poor, but seemed to have a bit more money than the peasants around here, maybe she was some sort of figure of upper class around here? Another distinguishing feature about her was her air of confidence around her. It wasn't enough to intimidate him, but just enough to leave some impression that she was there and wasn't afraid of him.

He took a step towards her, only for her to back up a bit.

"I'm not going to yell at you, yeesh, just please tell me what this soul whatever is."

Still not completely convinced, she stared at him as if surveying his true intentions then blinked and begun cautiously approaching him as if she decided that he wasn't some sort of danger. It kinda pissed him off… "It's called the Soul Society, I just said that. What are you some kind of idiot?"

"Hey, I just got here alright? No need to get snippy!" Ichigo retorted, scowling.

"whatever, what's your name, new guy?"

Ichigo opened his mouth, about to answer, but quickly realized that he couldn't remember his name. Looking down, he scratched the back of his head and tried to remember.

The girl bent to where his head was. "Hey, you alright?" He turned to see her wide-eyed and up in his face.

"E-Eyaaahh!" Ichigo jumped back several feet. "Y-y-you can't just put your face that close to mine! What are you trying to do, huh?"

"Ohhh I don't know…" She answered dreamily and turned her back to him and crossed her arms behind her back. "What's taking you so long to answer anyways? Don't tell me you've forgotten your own name?" She peered over her shoulder batting her eyelashes.

Getting serious again, Ichigo gulped and thought about it again and begun to realize no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't. Fear slowly crept onto his face as it started to settle in. _I can't remember my own name…why can't I remember my own name?_ He began to feel it again…the overwhelming dizziness, the heaviness in his head…everything began to spin around…

"H-hey! You ok, Carrot Top? Hey!"

That was the last thing he heard before he passed out. Once again tumbling into darkness.

**Hey all, sorry about how long it took, I was just reading and admiring other stories on this website and, seeing how seriously skilled most of them were written, decided I had to revise this section in order to consider it even remotely close to theirs. I still gotta long way to go though…x(.**

**Anyway, next chapter will include Rukia's point of view. How will she react when she hears what happened to Ichigo? Will she abandon her post as a newly appointed lieutenant, or will she follow her heart to go and find him in the vast soul society? We shall see in the next chapter, thanks for reading everyone! **


	3. Chapter 2

**Here it is people, chapter 2. This chapter will be a little longer cause it will be covering the current happenings in the Soul Society and what's new and everything. From here, we'll be switching to Rukia's POV, let's see how she reacts to news of Ichigo? Let's find out shall we? ;)**

**Chapter 2: Office Nostalgia**

"Miss Kuchiki!" Shouted an all too familiar voice. Looking up from her paperwork, the raven-haired lieutenant gazed tiredly at the door of the 13th division lieutenant's office door.

"Stop budging, blockhead, I was given the order to give her the paperwork!"

_Well if it isn't Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum…_Rukia Kuchiki thought at her new desk. Suddenly the door flew open and the famous two 3rd seats from squad 13, Kiyone and Sentaro, well, not famous for anything heroic or noble, just famous for being the only ones constantly fighting with each other.

"Miss Kuchiki, here's your new paperwork!" Shouted the small-eyed, thick-eyebrowed officer kneeling down at her desk holding up the stack of papers for her to stamp, seal, and sign and do whatever what with. It was all the same to her.

"You idiot, I was supposed to bring it to her!" Then the petite, short-haired dirty blonde girl kneeled beside him.

"I beg your forgiveness, miss lieutenant, I was given the order to deliver to paperwork, please forgive my lack of ability to get through to this numbskull."

Rukia just sighed and palmed her face into her hand and smiled.

"Its ok you two, just leave it on this part of the desk please." Indicating the spot by patting it with her hand.

"At once, miss lieutenant!" They both shouted at once and placed both stacks onto the corner of her desk where she had indicated. Watching them leave, she could see the electricity passing through their eyes.

It was about midday and very nice outside. She turned around from her desk, not wanting to see the daunting paperwork she had to complete by the end of at least the next day. As she looked outside her window she sighed and reminisced about her days as an unseated officer, being able to visit the world of the living almost as much as she wanted. Then again, she was able to because she knew that head captain Yamamoto wanted her to, because of her close relationship to the substitute soul reaper, Ichigo Kurosaki.

_Ichigo…_

That name made her sigh heavily and feel a weight of sadness. How long has it been since the defeat of the invading quincies? Probably about 2 years, and she still hasn't been able to see him since. She hasn't been able to see the rest of her friends as well; the last time she saw Ichigo was the last time she saw Uryu, Orihime, Chad, and his other friends. She thought about them all every once in a while and always wondered how much they have changed, probably in college by now and busy with their studies. Busy with her own work, she really didn't have time to think about them. With that, she remembered the colossal amount of work that needed to get done and turned around and started to get to work.

**-3 Hours Later-**

"Whew!"

Rukia finally placed the last sheet down in front of her from the first pile and sat back in her chair, eyeing her untouched lunch. Her stomach growled and suddenly remembered how hungry she was and began to reach for her food and was suddenly interrupted by her door being flung open by a certain red-haired lieutenant with tribal-designed tattoos coming down from his hair and around his forehead.

"Rukia, there's something I need to tell you!"

Rukia scowled at her old friend from interrupting her lunch break.

"Ugh, Renji! I was about to eat my lunch, what is so important?"

"Well you see…" The 6th squad lieutenant said, expression not changing, "Its about Ichigo…"

Hearing his name, her closed eyes opened wide, showing the full extent of her violet eyes and turned around immediately to face him.

"Ichigo? What's happened to Ichigo?"

She felt her heart beating faster, its strange, she was just thinking about him earlier. _What could it possibly be? What happened to him? _ Then suddenly she became a bit irritated. _Wait a minute, the fool has waited 2 years and now he wants to contact us? The nerve! Who does he think he is?_

"Rukia, listen." Started Renji

Noticing the solemn tone in his voice with a twinge of what could've been worry, her heartbeat began to increase steadily.

"Well, spit it out already…"

"I just received word from Urahara back in the world of the living…it seemed Ichigo got himself injured, injured bad. He had to go into the hospital for surgery…"

Her body began to stiffen as she anticipated Renji to finish.

"Well it turns out, the surgery didn't work…" Renji gulped and looked down at the wooden floor.

"Ichigo died, Rukia…"

Her whole consciousness began to fade and her hands began to tremble uncontrollably. She couldn't say anything but just stare at him blankly. What she felt couldn't be described using any human language of any kind, just sadness…emptiness…despair…everything negative, anger towards the surgeons for letting him die…anger at the world for not letting him live out the life he had wanted for himself. She couldn't cry either, the emptiness vacuumed out the ability to speak and make any sound, the feeling was unbearable and she was about to pass out from lack of air when Renji caught her out of her daze with his voice,

"Rukia…"

She shook her head, but couldn't look up at him, she feared the expression on her face would make him worry even more.

"When….when did he?..."

"Two days ago. That's not the whole story though."

Gathering herself together, she looked up at him trying to look as professional as she could. "What's the rest?"

"We just received word that his spirit was found and the soul reaper assigned to Karakura Town performed the conso on him."

She began to feel hope flow back into her heart like bath water running into a bathtub. "T-Then he's…he's…"

"Yes, he's somewhere in the Soul Society."

Joy flowed through her heart and she felt at ease knowing that a hollow hadn't consumed him.

"Well what are we just sitting here for, we gotta find him, Renji!" She rose up out of her seat and began running towards the door when Renji stopped her in her tracks.

"You do realize what can happen to wholes when they reach the Soul Society?"

Rukia knew that well and tried to shake that thought out of her head. I know Renji, but we'll never know unless we find him."

"Ok Rukia, I agree, but where do you intend to begin? The Soul Society is gigantic."

"Let's get some help, I know who will help!"

Wait, why was she feeling this way? She was a lieutenant and her duties are her most important focus, so why was she concerned about Ichigo? Why enough so that she would just abandon her duties? Was it because of her friendship with him? Is it because she knew he would do the same for her? Or was it something more?

At that last thought she blushed a little and shook her head and focused on gathering a squad that will help her find Ichigo.

**Ok, so just spent half a day pounding this chapter out and I gotta tell you guys, I really hope this story turns out the way I want it to. I've got hopes for this story though. **** Now that Rukia is aware of Ichigo's death and his presence in the soul society, what will happen in the nest chapter? Speaking of which, we're headed back to Ichigo's POV, see you again soon, and please share this story with your friends.**

**To those who have followed and favorited and currently reading, you're freaking awesome, ok? Expect more chapters in the near future, Until then!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Ok, so we know that Rukia is on her way to form a group to see if they can spot Ichigo and bring him back to the Seretei. Meanwhile Ichigo is unconscious, about to wake up from yet another dramatic collapse (cmon Ichigo, only girls do that sh*t…). Anyway, who is this chick who is harassing Ichigo? Will she turn out to be a friend? Will she leave him for dead? Let us see…**

**Chapter 3: The Awakening (Part 2)**

"I don't think he'll wake up anytime soon, dear"

"Mother, he's gonna wake up soon, I know it, his head is so full of hot air, that I doubt he'll be out for much longer."

"Fine, but when he wakes up, I want him gone, young lady."

"mother, he means no harm, I promise you that."

_Wha? What the the heck is going on here?_

"I'll be back in an hour or so, behave yourself ok?"

"W-what does that mean?"

_Damn, they're so loud…_

Opening his eyes slowly, he could see that he had ended up in what seemed to be one of the shacks on the road he had noticed earlier. The whole place seemed dusty and the rickety floorboards were unforgivably loud as what he deducted to be the mother walked out of the house. He noticed the rug he was laying on had an argyle design on it and soon remembered that he still wasn't in Karakura Town. He cringed to himself and laid his head back on his pillow and stared at the ceiling, which wasn't really even a ceiling anyway, it was just the roof, and there were some holes in it, revealing the light of day and shining radiant rays of light through them. Looking to his right, he noticed a person sitting at his side, facing the other way and seemed to be polishing something. When he arched his head he could see that it was a katana. The orange haired teenager's eye's widened at the sight of it, then narrowed as he tried to make out the identity of the person with the sword through his still slightly blurry vision. His heart jumped when he realized it…_It's the girl from earlier! _Ichigo reached out with his hand and tugged lightly on her Yukata, making the girl yelp in surprise and leap 2 feet into the air.

"y-y-you're awake! You could've said something you dolt, that scared me!"

Ichigo smirked, "Clearly"

"So, how was your little nap?" Her expression changed from shocked to smug and brushed her hair out of her face.

"I think the real question is, what are you doing with that sword?"

"Oh this?" She held he sword up proudly, "This is my zanpakto! I'm going to be a soul reaper, so I'm going to attend the soul reaper academy" She gave him a toothy grin.

"A…zanpakto? Soul reaper? What are they?" Asked the puzzled Ichigo.

"Well you see," She began, "A zanpakto is a soul reaper's sword! It can change form as the soul reaper's abilities evolve and it even has a spirit inside that will tell you its name, and when it does…" She turned to look at him, "Then increasing your skills will be a whole lot easier! Plus you earn yourself a new friend, if you treat it right!"

Ichigo just laid there blank-faced, and after a moment or two a laugh escaped and he erupted in a fit of laughter. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, you? Wield a sword? HAHAHAHAHAHA, you look like you can't even wield a fork! HAHAHAHA."

Several crosses formed on her forehead and balled a fist. She slugged him with all her strength, sending him across the room and into the wall.

"OWW, you bitch!"

"Who's a bitch?" She pointed the sword at his throat, "I may not know much about swordplay, but I can definitely plant this into your gasket if I feel like it!"

Ichigo raised his hands in surrender and she lowered her sword and sheathed it.

"By the way, you never said what your name was?"

She turned her head to look at him, "Oh that's right! I don't believe I have. My name is Tomoka, Tomoka Kunimitsu" She gave him a sweet smile and he smiled back

"I'd like to give you my name as well, but it seems I can't remember it…"

"Well so what? Let's give you a temporary name until you remember, ok?"

He looked at her incredulously, _Oh dear lord, this should be good._

"Let's name you….Takeshi!"

"Oh, so I'm guessing my full name is going to be Takeshi Kunimitsu? Is that what you're saying?"

"No! You aren't going to be my brother! that's…"

"Because it's weird?" He asked her

"No, its…" She began to blush a little. _No you blackhead, its because…I…I…_

At that moment the door flew open and an angry man came into the house waving a wooden sword in the air. "Where is he!? Where is he!? I'll beat the bastard to death! No one lays a hand on my precious daughter without-oh hey honey!"

Tomoka palmed her hand to her face and shook her head as her face reddened. "Dad, this boy is harmless and he just collapsed so I let him in the house to rest."

The older man looked Ichigo over and examined his toned upper body, chiseled chin and honey-like brown eyes. He growled and the turned to Tomoka, "You sure he didn't come on to ya? He seems attractive enough though, I can see why you picked him off the stree-" which his all he could get out before his daughter's fist met his face and sent him flying across the house.

"I-Its not like that ok? I-I-It just seemed like he needed help so I helped him! You just don't leave a sick person out on the streets, right? Wouldn't you have done the same father?" Her face was as red as a beet.

"Of course I wouldn't, but ask me first! For all we know, he could be a scary person, like a serial killer, or a sex offende-" WHAM!, Tomoka's mother wailed him upside the head with a pot and he crumbled down to the ground.

"Please pardon my husband's behavior, he's just a tad overprotective of his daughter"

_Just a tad…what an understatement…_thought Ichigo.

"I'm Asuka, Asuka Kunimitsu." She said with a smile. She indicated to her husband lying face down on the floor, "and that goofball is Junpei, it's a pleasure to meet you Mr…."

Ichigo had to do some quick thinking for a moment and glanced over to Tomoka, who just looked like she was thinking as well.

"Its Rei! My name is Takeshi Rei." Tomoka sighed deeply. Ichigo just glared at her for an instance _Yeah, thanks for the help, you couldv'e just given me a last name too you know._ All she could do was smile apologetically back at him.

He tried to get back up but Tomoka, seeing his action, stiffened and rushed over to sit him back down. "You aren't ready to stand back up again you dolt! Give it another half hour or so, can you manage that, numbskull?"

Ichigo crossed his eyebrows and scowled at her, "I'm fine, now let me stand"

Suddenly her father loomed over her and got into Ichigo's face. "When my daughter tells you to do something, you do it, got it?"

Put off more by his breath than his attempt at intimidation, Ichigo replied, "Yeah, whatever you say…" And he sat back down. Getting a closer look, he could see that he was a tall and pretty muscular guy. He had dark brown hair, which was receding from his forehead because of age. He seemed to be around his early fifties or late forties. He had some age spots around his face, but not a lot. Getting a closer look, he could se that he had some scars on his arms and some on his legs as well, so it seems he must have been a fighter in his early years. His eyes were a hard brown, and just from looking into his eyes he could see that he wasn't someone to pick a fight with, or become enemies with, so Ichigo decided to keep his distance from him.

"dear, let's not be too harsh on our guest, he's just recovering."

Her mother, on the other hand, seemed to not be that scary at all. She had this aura around her that could soothe someone just by looking at her. Her hair was a silky raven color brought up into a bun. She was gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. It made him wonder how she could marry a guy like her husband in the first place. She had Tomoka's lavender eyes that could stare into a soul, just like her daughter.

"Isn't dinner almost ready, mother?" Asked Tomoka, sounding like she was on her last nerve.

"Oh, that's right, the grilled leeks are almost done! Will you stay for dinner, Takeshi?"

"Well, I'd appreciate it very much thank you, ma'am."

She gave him a swet smile and motioned for Tomoka to come over to her.

"You've certainly got a taste for men, Tomoka, I'm proud of you!" She whispered into her ear and winking.

"Mo-mother! Its not like tha-just leave me alone…" She stormed off outside, fuming, with her mother laughing behind her.

Wondering what all the commotion about, Ichigo started to walk over in curiosity, but was stopped by her father. For a moment he stared sternly into Ichigo's eyes which made Ichigo flinch.

"If you break Tomoka's heart, I'll never forgive you, kid."

Crosses formed on Ichigo's forehead, "Its not like that! I'm just grateful to her for helping me!" He stared right back at her father with the same intensity, and her father, understanding the message, nodded and walked to the dinner table to wait for dinner to be served. _This is one strange family, _thought Ichigo, _but I could get used to living like this for a while._

Meanwhile, Junpei kept looking at Ichigo, knowing that he's seen his face somewhere, knowing that his hair color was very unusual and all. _Could he be…_ then he shook that thought out of his head and called in Tomoka for dinner.

**Whew! Longest chapter yet! This took me about a couple hours to finish and I'm glad it's finally over. Just to let you know, I don't really revise my work, I just let my ideas flow, so if you notice any grammatical errors, please let me know an I'll fix them as soon as I can. I won't make any changes to the storyline, I promise! I'm very content with the way this story is headed right now, and your reviews so far has kept me motivated to keep going, thanks for all your support!**

**For the next chapter, I think I'll make a double POV of Ichigo's friends back in Karakura Town and then finish it off with a bit of Rukia's POV. Keep reading everyone, I plan on making this story a very long one :P Until next time!**


End file.
